A book titled, "Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment", was recently published by the New York Academy of Sciences. It is authored by three noted scientists: Russian biologist Dr. Alexey Yablokov, environmental advisory to the Russian president; Dr. Alexey Nestorenko, a biologist and ecologist in Belarus; and Dr. Vassili Nestorenko, a physicist at the time of the accident, director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy of the National Academy of Science of Belarus.

The editor of this book, Dr. Janette Sherman, a physician and toxicologist, has, for many years, been involved in the study of the health impacts of radioactivity. After spending 14 months in editing the book, Dr. Sherman made this statement, "Every single system that was studied--whether human or wolves or livestock or fish or trees or mushrooms or bacteria--all were changed, some of them irreversibly. The scope of the damage is stunning."

The studies published in this book include the years from 1986 to 2004. The authors dispute the claim by the World Health Organization [WHO] and the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] that the Chernobyl accident caused the death of only 4000 people. The most recent estimate by the authors is that globally about 975,000 people have died, mostly from cancer. They expect that these deaths will continue, as children are more vulnerable to the effects of radiation which may be passed on to future generations.

The Chernobyl explosion caused a cloud of radionuclides to rise over 10 km into the air. These emissions carried radioactive poisons which included Cesium 137, Plutonium, Iodine-131 and Strontium-90. They held hundreds of millions of curies, an amount that was hundreds of times larger than the fallout from the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The fallout affected many countries. It is estimated that about 1% of these radioactive materials reached North America.

Dr Rosalie Bertell, an American Catholic nun, is internationally recognized for her knowledge of the effects of low-level radiation and cancer. This is what she had to say about this book on the catastrophe of Chernobyl: "This book is a "must read" for all of those bureaucrats currently promoting nuclear power as the only "solution" for climate change. Those who seek information on the disaster only from official documentation provided by IAEA, WHO and UNSCEAR [United Nations Committee of the Effects of Radiation], need to broaden their reading to include the reality check from those scientists who have access to local findings and are simply telling the truth, with no hidden propaganda agenda."

Two western provinces are considering the construction of nuclear power plants. Apparently these plants would be used to facilitate the processing of tar sands into bitumen which would then be exported to the U.S.A. The voters in these provinces are being processed to have us believe that tar sands exports would create a great net economic boost for everyone. But perhaps more so for the uranium mining industry and its officials and shareholders.

But here is another reason why we should vehemently oppose the construction of nuclear power plants. As long as our Canadian politicians keep our military forces in the Middle East to support the American armed struggle there, nuclear power plants here could become targets for terrorists.